This year’s Met Gala was a Masterclass in PR

“This year’s Met Gala may have been the most tone-deaf, especially with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez serving as co-chairs for what was supposed to be a night highlighting how “Fashion is Art”. Paradoxically, it was also the biggest one yet, breaking records in both fundraising and media coverage and making headlines for weeks afterwards. It’s easy to dismiss the gala as an out-of-touch extravaganza: celebrities pay $100,000 to walk up the steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) and flaunt their dresses to the rest of the world, who watch in awe. Simply showing up is enough to generate media attention, and being seated at one of the many tables — this year sponsored by the likes of Meta, OpenAI, and, of course, Amazon — provides an excellent opportunity to conduct some high-level networking. Despite the many best- and worst-dressed lists the gala generates, fashion functions more as the backdrop to the event. “Why does this matter, and why should I care?” was the question Vogue, which presides over the gala and is responsible for its coverage, had to answer. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, a lavish ball headed by a billionaire couple would understandably be the last thing on people’s minds. But 1.696 billion global video views and 108 million social engagements say otherwise. Surely no one watching believed the act the Bezoses put on, being two wealthy philanthropists with a special affinity for protecting the arts. Still, the gala normalised their presence among the rest of the cultural elite. Sánchez walked down the carpet in Schiaparelli, depicting the famous Madame X painting by John Singer Sargent, a portrait of a nineteenth-century socialite in a dress that caused controversy at the time for being too scandalous (obviously, her stylist knew what they were doing). Everyone else on the carpet must have been given the same script, because they were all thankful to the Bezoses for all they had done to make the Met Gala happen. This was not the first interaction between the Bezoses and Vogue: last autumn, Chloe Malle, who had just become the new editor of American Vogue, decided to make Sánchez the magazine’s cover star. Then, as now, she justified it by arguing that “you want something to be a moment, and that was a huge moment for us”. Knowing how to shape the narrative gave them the means to come out on top; it allowed them to extract maximum clicks without tarnishing their reputation. The livestream of the gala was hosted by three celebrities who stayed comfortably within the boundaries of cordial small talk between friends, perhaps trying to appear relatable, but only further estranging themselves from an audience who didn’t get to follow them into the venue. The Met Gala was clearly separated from the rest of the city, acting in the opposite way of a public institution. Anna Wintour’s assertion that the gala is a net positive for New York, employing thousands of people and contributing to its cultural capital, rings hollow when a large chunk of its funding comes from a single individual. Jeff Bezos’ involvement sparked protests leading up to the event, coincidentally coinciding with mass layoffs at Amazon to streamline bureaucracy. To highlight the labour behind the elaborate garments and the role of workers in making the gala possible, activists staged their own fashion show on the streets of New York. Beyond that, most objections emanated from anti-billionaire protest groups, like the British “ Everyone Hates Elon” . Marina Hyde questions who these protests are directed towards, neither dissuading celebrities from attending nor affecting everyone else not invited. Protesting merely the intrusion of tech billionaires into a space that has always been characterised by inequality and exclusivity fails to grapple with the Met Gala as a spectacle of wealth and its ability to incorporate protest as part of that spectacle. Any signs of mass protests outside the gala were successfully eliminated from view and replaced by excited members of the public hoping to catch a glimpse of the attendees. Only a curated form of protest was present on the carpet, with Sara Paulson (feebly) attempting to make a statement about wealth inequality. Paulson’s dollar bill-shaped mask and grey tulle dress became a point of contention too; the hypocrisy of paying a fortune to attend the event and then criticising it is palpable. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced a similar response for her ‘Tax the Rich’ dress at the 2021 Met Gala. The conclusion isn’t so much “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”, but the kind of protest present on the carpet shows just how easily an occasion like the Met Gala can set the terms of criticism. Including some form of critique, preferably far too conspicuous and on-the-nose, somehow makes the event easier to digest. AOC and Pauslon become figures who purport to represent viewers, signifying that traces of protests outside made it inside. Not only do their dresses alleviate responsibility for their own presence, but for the event as a whole. The Met Gala is not the first fashion event to incorporate protest: In 2014, Karl Lagerfeld simulated a feminist demonstration in Paris as a fashion show. The only barriers to entry were, of course, being a model and wearing Chanel. Maria Grazia Chiuri was similarly inspired to stage a protest for a Dior fashion show in 2018, this time drawing on the aesthetic of 1968, featuring models walking down the runway wearing garments with slogans to a backdrop of protest signs. As protest becomes institutionalised, highly publicised events can pick and choose what elements to appropriate, appearing politically minded without having to make the changes that their garments promote. Politics subsequently slips off as easily as the clothes they wear. The controversy that should have damaged the Met Gala’s reputation only served to make it the most publicised one yet. And who doesn’t want publicity in this day and age?

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